How to do the bare minimum amount of work, for a truly excellent job.

At B+A we have a saying: “do the bare minimum work, for a truly excellent job".?

In practice this means we trim the fat and strive to spend our time doing only what adds real value to a project and so it keeps us sharp on staying as fast and creative as we can be.?

That said, it’s something we have to be reflective about - it’s an ongoing practice of assessing and reassessing how we work.

So, what does it take for a job to be truly excellent?

Let's go through the words one by one:

"Truly"

Excellence can only partially be self-defined. As well as our own view on how we’re doing, we can be confident we’re assessing excellence at B+A correctly if we look at how the wider community we’re building responds to our work. Namely:

In terms of clients, we know our work has reached excellence if we receive testimonials, repeat business, referrals and other feedback showing they’ve actioned what we’ve presented or recommended.

With our colleagues, we assess our work through BIFF sessions with team members on projects, sharing sessions, Quality and Innovation sessions (which I lead as part of my role) and personal development assessments by line manager

And with project participants, we look at their: willingness to contribute further, provide and offer rich feedback, whether they ask to keep their notes, demonstrate curiosity about B+A, share their networks or enquire about keeping in touch with other participants or with B+A.?

"Excellent"

At B+A we believe that excellence is achieved when you consistently extend yourself to nurture both your own, and other's development towards our vision - so not just your own development, but that of your clients, colleagues and participants. And this is difficult work that’s a lifelong task. And this, ironically, rather than getting easier the longer you do it, gets more challenging the longer you're on the journey. Like Ben and I said in our first book, The Bumper Book of Fun & Games "The more I know, the more I know I know f**k all". And that's as true today as it was then.?

Although we all have our own path, we believe one can extend oneself into this space by practising four disciplines:

1. Curiosity to look beyond the familiar

Although B+A has a method, it's a living tradition: meaning each new person joining the team both adds their voice to what's gone before. This means looking beyond the scope we’ve been tasked to answer (what’s the context in which it’s been given to us), exploring what will be the delivery medium that will best ensure effective communication (so not just a slide deck!), and looking for inputs beyond the W.E.I.R.D world we live in.

2. Attention to detail

As "Transmission is nothing; reception is everything", the more attention you spend crafting and testing the detail of the linguistic, pictorial, graphic, auditory and sensorial story you are telling, the more likely you will communicate well.

3. Willingness to risk, fail and learn

To consistently extend yourself, you need to not just find your edges, but, on occasions, break beyond them so you can experience and explore what's on the other side. Key to bringing back the learning from this is a willingness to both give and receive feedback to and from those around you.

4. Finding and sharing the fun

We're very lucky. We do great, engaging work, with great people, driven by an inspiring vision: to create a world of cultural, charitable, profitable enterprise. Our work can and should be fun. Finding and sharing that fun creates a virtuous circle that engages more on our journey.

And remember - just as a child's first steps or ride on a bicycle are "excellent", to continue that feeling of flow they experienced with those first steps or first bike ride, the challenges they set themselves extend as their skills do.

"Job"

This isn't only the scope of works, or the assignment we're currently working on, or even the broader tasks and responsibilities described in a Job Description. Our job is our mission: to connect, educate and embolden the problems solvers our world need now. Achieve excellence, and this job is made easier, and B+A’s vision brought closer.

As we master these skills, we acquire reliable templates, and can recognise patterns that allow one to "do the bare minimum work, for a truly excellent job". But we’re well aware that if any of us lean too far into the "bare minimum", we risk the excellence. Sometimes the bare minimum for true excellence is a whole lot.

Like many aphorisms, ‘do the bare minimum work, for a truly excellent job’ is designed as a conundrum. We want our team to be compelled and inspired by it as they uncover and explore it through their life and career. Hopefully you will too.